LSI Joins the Email Party

LSI Logic Storage Systems has rolled out its first email product, a LogicStor email management solution for Microsoft Exchange.

The Milpitas, Calif.-based storage firm also debuted a new LogicStor Solutions Program to help businesses address growing email management issues.

With email management needs growing thanks to new laws and regulations requiring email storage and archiving, storage companies have been scrambling to capitalize on the trend. One study estimated compliance as a potential
$6 billion market.

“Email is widely considered to be a mission-critical application, and there are huge demands being placed on email administrators who are responsible for regularly backing up all corporate email, recovering archived messages and attachments, and monitoring the operation and security of the servers,” says Evaluator Group partner Randy Kerns. “As a result, there is a clear need for integrated solutions that simplify the administrator’s job.”

The cost of maintaining a corporate email system is driven by three factors, according to LSI: the server, the software, and storage. Storage requirements are directly related to the number of emails and attachments sent daily, and more than two-thirds of all attachments are duplicates or revisions of an original item.

Email management is further complicated by the fact that each company or organization must comply with specific industry regulations — such
as those imposed by the SEC, NASD, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the Patriot Act — that require the firms to retain and be able to access information that is often contained in company emails.

LSI wants to ease that burden for companies.

The company says benefits of the LogicStor solution for Microsoft Exchange include lower total cost of ownership through server/storage consolidation that can result in a 4:1 reduction in the number of servers needed when migrating from Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2003; rapid upgrades at reduced cost; more efficient storage management; and centralized backup and archive.

The LogicStor email management portfolio is targeted at applications that have been tested and qualified in LSI Logic Storage Systems labs. Individual solutions in the portfolio will provide continuous email availability, efficient storage management, backup and recovery, and facilitate email retention and retrieval compliance.

“Email management has rapidly become one of the greatest challenges businesses face,” states Steve Gardner, director of product marketing at LSI Logic Storage Systems. “LSI Logic Storage Systems partners who deliver this new LogicStor solution to end users have an opportunity to make a substantial contribution to the efficiency of how email is managed, retained, and retrieved.”

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